Kickin' the Tires & Lightin' the Fires: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of Tire and Wheel Cleaning Day

[Knickell]

Last Friday, I decided to run the truck cleaning gauntlet and detailing gauntlet yet again and give the truck a wash. Began at 0630 and got done around 1130. The truck looked A-MAZ-ING thanks to all of my efforts. While it did look great, all of the time spent meticulously caressing every cranny and curve of the truck displacing the dirt, scrubbing away the smudges, and eradicating the filth resulted from nearly two weeks without being cleaned ensured the certainty of one thing.... THUNDERSTORMS ALL WEEKEND LONG!!!


Over the weekend, I ventured out. The storms would surely be no match for my high-falutin' FX4 package! For my big night out, I made a trip for some Lord's chicken over to my local Chik-Fil-A. Unfortunately, my parking job while pulling into a parking space was anything but Godly....

One of my rules is you always try to park in a spot with a curb. That way you mitigate being door dinged by some soccer mom who isn't paying attention, at least on one side. As I selected my nice, large spot with a curb, i began to make a simple right turn into the space. As I was doing so, I knew I was hugging the curb close, but figured all the better so I would be far in enough from anyone who parked on my left side. It was not all the better.... As I completed what should have been a simple parking job, I noticed I got the slightest bit of trail over resulting in my tire's sidewall scraping onto the curb. I was extremely fortunate that the curb wasn't too tall, and my tire's sidewalls were. I didn't have any scratches or damage to my wheel, however, my sweet white letter Goodyear Wrangler Territory A/Ts were not as lucky. According to the right rear tire of my truck, I had a set of "Goodyear Wrangl"'s! The E and the R appeared to have all of their white lettering scuffed off of them!

Needless to say, I was pissed at my dumb mistake. I likely wasn't going to replace a good, brand new tire because it was scuffed up, but I began to condition myself to just looking at only the other three tires for the next 45,000 miles or so until this set wore out. It was going to suck, but "hey.... its a truck, stuff like that is bound to happen eventually" I rationalized.

After the weekend’s onslaught of rain and getting my blood pressure back down, I recalled seeing this stuff called Bleche-Wite on a few occasions when I’ve been in auto supply stores. I’d never used it since I always had vehicles with just straight black tires. “Besides, its a cleaner for old fashioned whitewall style tires, and what kinda name is “Bleche-Wite” anyway?! That’s stupid, why don’t you just spell it correctly; Bleach White!” I thought.


After my ignorant judging, I began to think it could possibly work on my white lettered tires. So I picked up a bottle from the friendly neighborhood Walmart and got to work earlier this morning to see if I could save “Mr. Wrangl” from my error. Apparently, this Bleche-Wite is some pretty high-test stuff. The directions advise to glove up, wear eye-pro, and DO NOT let it get on painted or aluminum wheels such as my 18” 6-Spoke Machined Aluminum Wheels with Gloss Black Painted Pockets….

I followed the directions to the “T” and let the stuff set in on the tire a few minutes and then wiped it off with a damp rag. I was pleasantly surprised when the “E” and the “R” on my tire came back into view like my kiss with the curb never even happened! I ran this stuff on each tire, and I have to say I’m thoroughly impressed thus far. The white lettering of my Goodyear Wranglers look as good, if not better than the day I picked her up off the lot! For those of you with white lettering tires of any kind on your F-150s, I have to give this a big thumbs up! Can recommend!

Here is a closer look at the before and after of using the Bleche-Wite:

Over my past few washes I’ve also been using Chemical Guy’s Hydro Speed Ceramic Quick Detailer on the wheels. This is another product for the wheels that I have to highly recommend. I began using this stuff as an enhancer for my original, thick base coat of wax I’ve got on the whole body of my truck. I may even begin to use the Hyrdo Speed in place of a wax in the future if it continues to hold up as well as my tried and true 3M Performance Finish wax. I also use this stuff on the wheels of the truck, and it thoroughly glosses up the black and aluminum finish of the wheels, and really makes my detail job pop! It has also done a decent job combating dirt and brake dust accumulation.

I finished off my tire and wheel cleaning adventure by trying out some of the Chemical Guy’s Tire Kicker Tire Shine. My experience so far with the large majority of Chemical Guy’s products so far while keeping my truck clean has been resoundingly positive. However, this Tire Kicker stuff is mediocre at best. To me, the bottle appears to deliberately mimic the orange and white color scheme of its direct competitor, ArmorAll.

The bottle promises an “extra shiny” finish once applied. To be fair, I may need to let it dry and set into the rubber a bit more, but this stuff went on leaving a brownish, nasty looking application, and did not have anywhere near the shine or luster of some of the ArmorAll products I’ve previously used. It currently has a very flat and full finish to it. If you guys are looking for some bright new car shine for your tires, I’d have to say steer clear of this one.

(Note the brownish sludge that is seeping into the crevices of the tires. That did not go away no matter how much I rubbed it in)

Anywhoo, that’s just a tad bit of how my morning went. Overall, I’d consider it a huge win since I saved my tire! I just wanted to pass on my experience on to you all in case you find your sweet looking white letter tires marred by a substandard parking job!

 

[KartRacer25]

Once again nice write up. Thanks.
Using Westley's since 80's on my '67 Stang with raised lettering BFG radial T/A's I miss her.
It will produce brown dirt liquid to hose off after, then add the salad dressing.
Can use big plastic wheel brush on tires too. As needed, good for cleaning those grooves.
Also I think someone makes a white lettering paint bottle with sponge tip to repair deep scrapes.
One suggestion, hit brake discs with cleaner after spraying all the chems around, even soap, (overspray) avoid creating disc hot spots (chatter, lockups etc) and contaminating pads for the long term.
I just hosed her off yesterday, used tire wet, not sure what to use on painted clearcoated 20" wheels yet might try chem bros stuff. The Tire wet is not good for paint either. I should prob apply with sponge.

 

[Blackdog]

Thanks for the write-up and showing off the beautiful look of my favorite F150 tires - looks awesome! I am planning on getting those on mine - if'n I ever get it, .

 

[Knickell]

Once again nice write up. Thanks.
Using Westley's since 80's on my '67 Stang with raised lettering BFG radial T/A's I miss her.
It will produce brown dirt liquid to hose off after, then add the salad dressing.
Can use big plastic wheel brush on tires too. As needed, good for cleaning those grooves.
Also I think someone makes a white lettering paint bottle with sponge tip to repair deep scrapes.
One suggestion, hit brake discs with cleaner after spraying all the chems around, even soap, (overspray) avoid creating disc hot spots (chatter, lockups etc) and contaminating pads for the long term.
I just hosed her off yesterday, used tire wet, not sure what to use on painted clearcoated 20" wheels yet might try chem bros stuff. The Tire wet is not good for paint either. I should prob apply with sponge.

Nice. While I was researching this Bleche-Wite stuff, I read it did use to be produced by Westley’s, but has since been changed to being made by Black Magic. Apparently the Westley’s mix is a little more potent and heavy duty from what a few people have been saying.

You’re right. Once it starts to do it’s thing, it does turn brown and begin to make the white lettering pretty dirty, even worse than when I started. But that appeared to just be all the dirt and grime being raised to the surface. It comes off pretty easily with a damp rag or hose down.

 

[Knickell]

Thanks for the write-up and showing off the beautiful look of my favorite F150 tires - looks awesome! I am planning on getting those on mine - if'n I ever get it, .

Thank you! They are my fav too. I never miss a chance to show them off! ?

 

[Knickell]

8:00PM update for you lads:

The wheels and white lettering still look killer. The overall shine from the Tire Kicker stuff is still very flat with minimal shine.

 

[SonnyDigs]

I think they look great..
There was a product I used in the 70's for white lettering that really made them look new.
I would do them a couple of times a year.
Even though the tires could be worn out the lettering always looked new.
Too many yrs ago to remember who made it.

 

[Knickell]

I think they look great..
There was a product I used in the 70's for white lettering that really made them look new.
I would do them a couple of times a year.
Even though the tires could be worn out the lettering always looked new.
Too many yrs ago to remember who made it.

Yea, white letter tires were a lot more prominent during that era. It’s a shame they aren’t more popular today. I’ve always loved the look!

When I was a kid, my dad had a ‘78 Pontiac Trans Am in Martinique Blue (yes, of course, with the T-Tops), and always with a set of white lettered BF Goodrich’s Radial T/As. Pretty sure that’s where my love affair with the OWL look, and the color blue began!! ???

 

[adt1982]

That looks great! I, too, had a run-in with a curb on one of my new tires. The poor Pirelli scorpion was all but rubbed off. Bleche white brought him back looking pretty good all things considered.

 

[Knickell]

That looks great! I, too, had a run-in with a curb on one of my new tires. The poor Pirelli scorpion was all but rubbed off. Bleche white brought him back looking pretty good all things considered.

Glad to hear! I'm pretty satisfied so far. I may hit the white letters with it every other wash or so since it worked so well for me.

 

[adt1982]

Glad to hear! I'm pretty satisfied so far. I may hit the white letters with it every other wash or so since it worked so well for me.

I should probably pick up a bottle that is a bit newer. The date printed on the back of mine is from March 2007. At that time I was cruising in the Olds 98 that belonged to my grandma, and it had whitewalls.

 

[Coacher]

Mid 70s white walls required hours keeping them looking sharp. I can only imagine the chemicals I was exposed to getting them looking good.

 

[Knickell]

I should probably pick up a bottle that is a bit newer. The date printed on the back of mine is from March 2007. At that time I was cruising in the Olds 98 that belonged to my grandma, and it had whitewalls.

New meaning to the phrase “Old School”!

 

[Knickell]

Mid 70s white walls required hours keeping them looking sharp. I can only imagine the chemicals I was exposed to getting them looking good.

I can imagine! It was has enough cleaning these things up!

 

[SonnyDigs]

Yea, white letter tires were a lot more prominent during that era. It’s a shame they aren’t more popular today. I’ve always loved the look!

When I was a kid, my dad had a ‘78 Pontiac Trans Am in Martinique Blue (yes, of course, with the T-Tops), and always with a set of white lettered BF Goodrich’s Radial T/As. Pretty sure that’s where my love affair with the OWL look, and the color blue began!! ???

Awesome.